GEL - Beyond The Core
( Turing Dreams into Reality )
By: D Robertson
J W Whiteway
Of: AstraZeneca PLC
At : Bletchley Park
On: June 9th 2009
For: 45 minutes

Fundamentally:
GEL is a large Content Management based system, current
primary client application is a VB stack – GEL Explorer 5.x
Multiple forces have triggered the creation of GEL Explorer 6.0
5.x – monolithic VB application
6.0 – set of WCF services, one WinForm client is GEL
Explorer 6.0 – FUNDAMENTAL change in architecture
- .net, the opportunities seem endless…
- services
- GEL “core”, use as required
- can we create a pattern for future AZ applications
and systems ?

Forces, Ideas, Possibilities…:
• Pharma. Business is changing fundamentally, we need to
position for now and future, to ensure there is one…
• Shorter App. Maintenance times, but still Validated System
• Lower cost of ownership, sharing services, reusable solutions,
lower App Dev and App Maint costs
• Increase use of AZ systems by “non AZ permanent staff”,
company collaborations, virtual organisations
• ALWAYS more access to information required – BUT still
rigorously controlled.
• New information / collaboration models – portable devices,
Linked-In, Facebook etc…and applicability to the business world
• Changes in how organisations furnish IT solutions,
AzuSpace…

Scope:
Security
Binary Stack
WCF Services
GEL Core
Diagram from http://cyrusxp.com/images/gph_Interoperability.png

To Address:
• Candidate Architectures for GEL “Beyond the Core”
• Azure – GEL schemes and dreams
• Sharepoint Strategy – Dave R.
• Can we have some “AzuVerse” ( I.e. some Azure Space…) ?
• How DO we measure or evaluate interop “level” of a system ?

Business Critical – Global
Electronic Library ( GEL )
Enterprise THIS SYSTEM SPEEDS 50 countries
Application UP DRUG SUBMISSIONS
Author,
75 Sites
11,000 submissions / year Manage,
Publish and
$$$
Track
Submissions.
Nearly
10,000 users
17 Business Areas all
Regulatory
Documents
2 million with
24 / 7 Global
documents AstraZeneca
usage

Content Management – GEL #0
• Dave Robertson

Interop – GEL #1 – Landscape

GEL #2 – Tooling (current)
C#
DQL, XML, SQL,
XPATH, HTML,
HTTP, .DOC, .DOCX,
SAX, DOM, XSLT,
.PDF,

Interop – GEL #3 - WCF
GEL Explorer Client Support Tool Client A.N.Other Client
Externalisation Stack
Binary Stack Web Services
WCF Services WCF Services
GEL Core GEL Core
Citrix Host Application Server Host
GEL Repository

Spot the Interop – GEL #4
SuppotTool Future
Client
Across application stack
Office
eCTD
.NET /
JAVA
Terminal Server <>
Application Server

Scenarios:
• Non-AZ staff “tailored” ( aka restricted ) access to GEL
services
• Enterprise search, Semantic Search
• New layers to give new services
• Reuse of “GEL Core” / “GEL pattern” – for other AZ systems
• Use of AzuSpace for subset of GEL services - non-IP
elements ( intellectual property )
• GEL + A.N.OTHER system collaborate for “Emergent Results”

Architecture Extensions to
Core – Open Forum
What are some architecture
possibilities to cater for
scenarios of previous slide ?
Alter Boundaries